(May 20, 2016 at 12:16 am)Minimalist Wrote: I don't know.
Here is Sennacherib's Prism in translation. I don't see much of an astronomical nature here, just kingly bragging.
http://www.kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/meso/sennprism1.html
There are Egyptian and Babylonian inscriptions ( the Egyptians fought on the Assyrian side ) but the primary historical source is Herodotus who is a century and a half after the fact and who was never careful about his sources.
For that matter many of these chronicles are un-provenanced finds acquired in the 19th century from private dealers. The ethics of archaeology were not as well developed then as they are now. Still, I hope the British and French hold on to them rather than give them back to Iraq and watch ISIL blow them up.
Sennacherib sounds like trump
